The Numbers Game and Kinship Caring
May 24, 2012
Yesterday a new report was published on the nature and extent of kinship caring in the US, entitled ‘Stepping Up for Kids – What Governments and Communities Should do to Support Kinship Families’.
The report provides a unique insight into the number of children being raised by family and friends and some of the challenges experienced by kinship carers when caring for their family and friend’s children.
The report concludes that more than 2.7 million children in the US are being raised by relatives and close family friends. That’s a lot of children
Other key findings include:-
- Number of children being raised in family and friends care has increased 18% in the last 10 years.
- 104,000 children are being raised by kin formally, ie placed in the care of family and friends by the State.
- Number of children in kinship care grew 6 times faster than the number of children in the general population (18% v 3%)
- Around 4% of all children are in kinship care.
- 1 in 11 children live in kinship care at some point before the age of 18.
- 1 in 5 black children spends time in kinship care at some point in their childhood.
- Around 400,000 children live with kin as an alternative to foster care (known to child welfare agencies but have not been formally placed)
- Number of children in kinship foster care (formal arrangements) is almost 26% of the foster care population.
- 38% of children in public and private kinship care were living below the poverty line, 63% below 200% of the poverty line.
- 60% of children in public and private kinship care were living in households where their carer was over the age of 50.
- States with the highest number of children in kinship care were California (333,000), Florida (164,000), Illinois (105,000) and Georgia (103,000).
- States with the lowest number of children in kinship care were Idaho (7,000), Alaska (7,000) and District of Columbia (5,000).
- State reliance on kinship care as the preferred option for children in foster care ranged from 6% to 46%.
These figures make for difficult reading especially since some States seem to place more emphasis on kinship care than others.
The report highlights other important findings – that kinship care is the best option when children cannot live with their own parents; that kinship care increases child safety, permanence and well being and that children in kinship foster care experience fewer school disruptions than children in non kinship foster care arrangements. It also finds, however, that kinship carers are more likely to be poor, single, older, less well educated and unemployed.
Although numbers are important, they don’t tell the full story. They don’t tell of the hardships of kinship carers or the many sacrifices they make when trying to keep their families together. Nor do they tell the stories, experiences and support needs of children who, for whatever reason cannot live with their own parents.
Why should it matter if the number of children in kinship care is 2.7 million, 10,000 or 10?
It is time to stop playing the numbers game and for governments to recognise and support these families. It’s time to do the right thing!
Report:- Stepping Up for Kids, The Annie. E Casey Foundation http://www.aecf.org/KnowledgeCenter/Publications.aspx?pubguid={642BF3F2-9A85-4C6B-83C8-A30F5D928E4D}
